Tricks to keep mooring lines clean

[OrangeCrush]

If I leave my mooring for a week or more, the mooring lines get fully encrusted with a thick layer of marine life and cleaning them is a messy ordeal. My lines are very heavy and won’t balance or coil up on the mooring as I see some people manage to do. Last time, I tried bundling them up in reusable shopping bag which did help. I cut away the bag when I got back and some parts of the lines had stayed clean. I’m thinking of trying this again with a laundry bag which I’ll cinch tight around the lines close to the mooring ball.

Any tips, tricks or products out there? It’s almost worth taking off lines entirely when I go out for a cruise, but that’s definitely not something I want to do multiple times per season. I’m surely not the only one with this issue... thanks!

[Sparx]

I like the mooring balls with the pennant eye on a stick at deck level. Cuttyhunk has this set up. Super easy to thread my mooring bridles. It was fun to watch other boats come in, many of which had this process totally perfected.

[Stonecutter36]

I have been on a mooring for 8 years and use fire hose to protect the lines .they are 16 feet long and go to each side of the boat (bridle) the nylon is black because the hose has a rubber liner inside . the only thing I have changed is to add 18 inches to the top as anti chafe I haven't even changed the nylon line insid since the mooring was installed .

[thinwater]

Originally Posted by OrangeCrush

...I’m thinking of trying this again with a laundry bag which I’ll cinch tight around the lines close to the mooring ball....

It needs to be relatively air tight and most laundry bags are intended to breath to reduce stink.


I would try a heavy duty cinch-type trash bag. I've never tried it for lines, but I have used them for props and outboards that wouldn't lift.

[johnn33]

Would this help if between piles? If you buy a pole buoy, then pass a wooden rod with a small piece of lead at the bottom, and place a rowlock at the top to take your long pick-up line(s). The bow and stern lines can also be suspended below the rowlock.
John

[OrangeCrush]

Thanks for the tips, all. The fire hose idea doesn't work for me (at least the way I imagine it) because there will always be a bare section that passes through the hawse hole. There is chafe gear on the lines already and that's honestly the hardest part to clean.

Someone else suggested I take a piece of dock flotation foam and strap a large crate on top of it, so it floats next to the mooring with the lines in the crate. I like this idea but based on the heft of my lines I think I would also need some sort of ballast below the foam so it could turn out a bit awkward.

For now I think I'll just zip tie on a contractor bag and cut it off when I get back.